Feature
Five things a scientist wants anti-vaxxers to know about coronavirus vaccines
The most common myths debunked
A medicine cell biologist has cleared up some of the popular vaccination myths.
Hundreds of thousands of people are being vaccinated daily across the UK with a plan for 13.9 million people to have their first dose by mid-February.
This accounts for 21% of the population, currently (figures are from January 18th, 2021), 6.1% of the population have had their first dose, according to Public Health England.
However, there are a number of people not convinced about the safety of the vaccination. In the UK, the Centre for Countering Digital Hate suggests 5.4 million people believe in the ‘anti-vaccination movement’.
The anti-vaccination movement is based upon three major claims – all of which remain unsupported by facts: ‘Covid is not dangerous’, ‘vaccines are dangerous’ and ‘experts cannot be trusted’.
HuffPost UK spoke to UCL medicine cell biologist Dr Jennifer Rohn to debunk vaccination myths that are currently circulating.
MYTH: ‘Vaccines alter your DNA’
Some rumours have circulated that the vaccine can modify your DNA, this is not only not physically possible but also not backed by a single piece of evidence, like many of the anti-vaccination myths.
Jim Corr, guitarist of Irish group The Corrs, wrote on Twitter: “The vaccine is a novel experimental RNA vaccine which will alter the very DNA of the recipient.”
The key problem with this statement is that it not only represents a complete misunderstanding of how vaccines work, but it is being Tweeted by a ’90s pop star who has no scientific or medical qualifications.
Firstly, DNA and RNA are different things. DNA is a long molecule containing unique genetic code – what we call genes – that are responsible for development, function, growth and reproduction of proteins in each cell of the body.
RNA is of a similar structure however it essentially tells the proteins how to behave. It does this in three ways, including acting as a messenger between DNA and proteins. Here it is called ‘messenger RNA’, known as ‘mRNA’.
Dr Rohn explains that those made by Pfizer and Moderna are mRNA vaccines that use a part of Covid-19’s RNA to tell our cells to produce antigens. The antigens are then recognised by the immune system and prepare it to fight coronavirus.
RNA cannot physically change the coding of DNA, Dr Rohn confirms.
Instead, she thinks people are confusing vaccines with gene therapy, an experimental technique that can be used against cystic fibrosis and some cancers but – crucially – has nothing to do with vaccines, how they are developed or how they work.
MYTH: ‘You don’t need the vaccine if others have one’
Back to unqualified musicians on Twitter for such rumours, like Ian Brown, who tweeted: “So if you want a vax and you believe it works and you’ll be protected then you wont mind if i dont have one because you will already be protected. [sic]”
Firstly, the former Stone Roses singer has no scientific or medical qualifications.
Secondly, not everyone can be vaccinated, some have compromised immune systems and others are undergoing certain medical treatments and cannot safely take the vaccine. These people will be relying on the wider population to take the vaccine and therefore indirectly protect them.
Herd immunity, however, is typically only achieved when 70-90% of the population is vaccinated.
Dr Rohn says: “It’s quite a shocking thing to say: ‘I’m going to sit back and reap the benefits of vaccination without actually getting the vaccine myself.
“I think that’s completely selfish because not everyone can get vaccinated. There are people who are too vulnerable and they’re immunocompromised and they’re relying on everyone else to do the right thing.”
MYTH: ‘Vaccines contain tissue from aborted foetuses’
This rather horrifying myth is completely untrue. Dr Rohn explains: “You would never put human tissue into a vaccine because it might cause an immune reaction that you don’t want.”
Where the confusion lies, she believes, is with the fetal cells that were used in the early 1960s from legally and electively aborted fetuses for research purposes.
These cells have been reproduced over the years to provide a consistent genetic make-up for conducting vaccine research.
Dr Rohn says: “There are cell lines that we use in the lab all the time that are derived from stem cells.
“Some of them are 50 years old and they’re an essential part of the research arsenal. It’s not like we’re going out and aborting foetuses to do research on them.”
The mRNA vaccine is synthetic and made from a DNA template in a lab, such as the Moderna vaccine – a synthetic vaccine sequenced in a lab. The AstraZeneca vaccine, however, used the cell line from an aborted fetus to develop the vaccine.
Even the seriously anti-abortion Catholic Church said ‘one is morally free’ to use the vaccine if it has been developed using the cell line, despite its historical association with abortion. They add: “This is especially important for parents, who have a moral obligation to protect the life and health of their children and those around them.”
To be clear though – none of the Covid-19 vaccines contain cells from aborted fetuses.
MYTH: ‘Vaccines cause autism’
There is zero scientific evidence to back up this anti-vaccine and ableist conspiracy theory.
This myth is believed to be based upon a fraudulent paper from 1998 that has now been retracted due to clear evidence of falsification of data.
Simply put – vaccines absolutely, scientifically do not cause autism. Anti-vaxxers should also consider why they think so negatively of autism.
MYTH: ‘The vaccine isn’t safe because it’s been developed so quickly’
The Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine smashed the previous record for vaccine development from four years to under one. ‘Understandably, there is concern’, Dr Rohn explains.
Adding: “Usually it takes 10 years and this time it’s taken 10 months, so of course people are going to wonder if any shortcuts have been taken.”
However, the speed at which the vaccine has been developed is simply due to the amount of money and effort put in – the UK alone spent £6 billion to develop and procure the vaccine.
Additionally, vaccine development did not start from scratch. Dr Rohn says: “There’s been an enormous amount of groundwork on these prototypes so we were quick off the mark from a research point of view.
“The actual trials are taking a long time and that’s where nothing is being compromised.
“No reputable regulatory body will approve this without a completed and successful series of clinical trials.”*
*This interview was done before any vaccine was rolled out in the UK.
On vaccine misinformation, a government spokesperson said: “Letting vaccine disinformation spread unchecked could cost British lives.”
They added: “We continue to work closely with social media firms to promote authoritative sources of information so people have access to vaccine facts not fiction.”
See the government’s Covid-19 vaccination guidance here.
Feature
Affleck’s is home to the last remaining cassette tape shop in the UK
It’s 2021, and cassette tapes are going nowhere…
Remember the humble cassette tape? Those clunky bits of plastic wound up with tape containing all your favourite songs waiting to be played in your bedside cassette decks?
Well, while they may seem like a distant memory to most of us (or completely pre-historic to you younger readers), it turns out they’re still quite the hit for one shop right here in Manchester.
Mars Tapes, located in the vibrant and eclectic Affleck’s Palace, was opened by friends Alex Tadross, Giorgio Carbone, and Borja Reguira who all shared a passion for retro music. But their love for cassette tapes in particular came when the group started their own music label, Sour Grapes, in 2017.
Alex told the MEN: “All three of us have been musicians and in bands, done gigs, and been on the local scene before we launched the label. We kind of specialised in doing cassettes for local bands, and European garage rock bands, and that kind of turned into this shop.”
The group found vinyl to be a little too expensive to produce music on, and no one was interested in CDs, so they turned to the next best thing: cassettes.
Alex explained: “It was all about affordability at first really. Vinyl runs can cost up to £1,000 to £2,000 to do depending on how many you want to release.”
And, despite everyone getting their music fix via Spotify or Apple Music (guilty) these days, demand for cassettes is surprisingly high, with Alex saying that business couldn’t be better.
“We started selling them here in Affleck’s and we got more and more stock, and became an authentic cassette shop. And we like to think we’re unique and that we’re the last one.”
Mars Tapes now boasts an incredible selection of music, including ‘New music,’ which includes an array of brand new, unopened and newly released tapes from the likes of Chic, Bjork, Florence and the Machine and Lewis Capaldi.
Though for those with a somewhat more vintage taste in music, fear not! Customers will also be able to find some golden oldies, too, such as The Beatles, Elvis and The Rolling Stones.
There’s also a ‘Manc Bands’ shelf with tapes from Take That, Simply Red, New Order, and even current chart-toppers Blossoms’ last album ‘Foolish Lovin’ Spaces.’
There’s even a selection of cassette tapes brought back from a holiday in Cairo, limited edition tapes ‘from around the world’, pop, rock, compilations, radio shows, ‘songs for the bedroom’ and plenty more.
So, when you next come across a dusty cassette tape in your bedroom drawer, make sure you bring it down to Mars Tapes, because they’ll definitely buy it off you.
To stay up to date with their wonderful cassette finds and offerings, follow their official Instagram page and drop a visit to their website… Or, just pop into Affleck’s when you’re next in town. I’d recommend the latter.
Feature
The amazing reason Manchester has an Abraham Lincoln statue and square in the city centre
Believe it or not, the statue isn’t just there to brighten the place up…
Located just off Albert Square in the smaller, more easily missed location of Lincoln Square, there stands a statue of the late US President Abraham Lincoln.
But why?
You’d be forgiven for being a little puzzled at the presence of an American politician who seemingly has no connection or place in our city, especially in a location as quiet and hidden away as Lincoln Square is.
But, as it turns out, the statue stands tall today as a poignant reminder for the role Victorian Manchester played in the US Civil War and the eventual abolishment of slavery.
David Dixon / Geograph
Let’s start from the beginning: As the largest processor of cotton in the world at the time, Manchester took a strong moral and political stance by supporting President Lincoln, despite his blockade of the Confederate states and the cotton supply beginning in April 1861.
Even though Manchester and its surrounding areas found a huge proportion (an estimated 60%) of its mills were struggling to stay afloat, largely as a result of the blockade, in a meeting at the Manchester Free Trade Hall in 1862 workers agreed to maintain their support for Lincoln – who was aiming to out-manoeuvre the Confederate states, win the civil war and ultimately abolish the US slave trade.
In supporting Lincoln and the Union the working people of Manchester had selflessly put their principles ahead of their own economic self-interest, leading to unemployment and hardship for the workers.
Thomas Hawk / Flickr
President Lincoln wrote a letter in 1863 to thank the people of Manchester for their support – the letter, currently held by Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, reads: “When I came, on the 4th of March, 1861, through a free and constitutional election to preside in the Government of the United States, the country was found at the verge of civil war.
“Whatever might have been the cause, or whosesoever the fault, one duty, paramount to all others, was, before me, namely, to maintain and preserve at once the Constitution and the integrity of the Federal Republic.”
Just two years later and months after the US Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment which officially abolished slavery, Lincoln was assassinated.
Despite his death, however, Lincoln continued to be regarded as somewhat of a Mancunian legend so, shortly after the First World War, a statue in his memory was sculpted by George Grey Bernard. The original statue was completed in 1916 and exhibited in New York before its sponsor, wealthy businessman Charles Taft from Cincinatti, said he would pay for a replica to be erected in England.
The statue was actually intended to stand outside the Houses of Parliament, in a tribute from the United States marking 100 years of peace between the two countries. However, the American sculptors’ depiction of a ‘vigorous pose’ was far too controversial for London’s tastes at the time, so the statue subsequently came to Manchester where it remains today.
Waymarking.com
The monument was initially unveiled at Platt Fields Park, where it remained until the late 1980s before being moved and mounted on a new pedestal in its home today, Lincoln Square.
And, in 2013, after years of enduring pollution and dirt build-up, the plaque was eventually cleaned and the message to the people of Manchester was revealed at long last.
It reads: “The support that the working people of Manchester gave in their fight for the abolition of slavery during the American Civil War… By supporting the union under President Lincoln at a time when there was an economic blockade of the southern states the Lancashire cotton workers were denied access to raw cotton which caused considerable unemployment throughout the cotton industry.”
Feature
NEW OPENING: The Manchester pop-up serving waffles, fried chicken and lobster boxes
Manchester’s newest opening is built upon the roots of good old fashioned home cooking
The newest addition to Manchester’s already extensive food scene is giving the humble chicken burger a very syrupy makeover.
WaffleStop opened its first ever pop-up kitchen just last week, but was born during lockdown as a virtual dark kitchen with a focus on good, old-fashioned home cooking with a twist. The brains behind the unique chicken-waffle-barbecue concept, Moss Side-born Georgia Patrick, came up with the idea for her brand when cooking for her partner.
Speaking to Proper Manchester, Georgia detailed how the inspiration for WaffleStop was born, crediting her love for home-made, high quality and unique food. She said: “I’m not really the type of person who always wants to go out for date nights, sometimes I prefer to just sit in and make a nice meal.
WaffleStop
“So on our anniversary a couple of years ago, I asked my partner what he wanted to eat, and he suggested ‘American fusion.’ There, I thought to myself, why don’t I make my own waffle chicken burger?”
From there, Georgia got to work researching various recipes for barbecue sauce, eventually coming up with her own unique recipe and creating her own waffle sauce. Initially using frozen waffles from the supermarket, Georgia made her first waffle burger and it proved to be a huge hit. She explained: “My brother came around to try it and when he loved it, that sparked the idea to start selling them.”
From there, she started making her own waffles from scratch and, with her business partners, brother Jerome Patrick and Dominic Cook, began putting together a full menu and business plan.
Thanks to the ongoing lockdowns last year, however, WaffleStop was forced to operate as a virtual dark kitchen – but now that Manchester has officially reopened, WaffleStop has secured a residency at The Progress Centre in Ardwick as a pop up.
WaffleStop
Since then, the menu has expanded massively; as well as her trademark waffle chicken burger, there are the likes of mac ‘n’ cheese, chicken wings, and even seafood additions such as chilli jerk glazed prawns and barbecue glazed lobster tail. There are also meat-free alternatives for vegetarian and vegan customers such as the Cali Burger, which includes a southern-fried cauliflower with sweet-chilli sauce.
Speaking of the unique menu, Georgia explained: “A menu highlight is definitely our lobster tail which is served with our signature barbecue sauce. The lobster tail comes as part of our Waffle Box deal, which comes with seasoned corn and two slices of waffle.
“The fusion-fried rice is also really popular, as are our honey-nut strips and honey-nut waffle burgers, which all give a sweet-but-savory twist to the menu.”
WaffleStop
Other box combinations include the Beach Box, which consists of loaded white chocolate and strawberry waffles, sweet chilli jerk salmon and seasoned corn, and the Baby Box, a smaller portion of white chocolate waffles and seasoned corn and a smaller price for those not wanting to break the bank.
WaffleStop is open Tuesday – Saturday, 12pm-8pm at the Progress Centre in Ardwick and operates on a strictly order and pick up basis only (though a sit down restaurant is on the cards for the future.)
WaffleStop, CheeseTrap and SugarBabez can all be found at the Progress Centre in Ardwick. For more information and to place your order, visit the official WaffleStop Instagram account here.
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